Embodiments of the invention generally relate to power transfer systems and, more particularly, to systems for contactless exchange of power.
Power transfer systems are employed for transmitting power from one object to another. Based on a method of transmitting power, the power transfer systems may be classified into power transfer systems using physical connections between a transmitter and a receiver for transmitting power and systems for contactless exchange of power in which there is no physical connection between the transmitter and the receiver.
The systems for contactless exchange of power may employ various methods for transmitting power wirelessly. One such approach may include an inductive coupling system that may further include a transmitter coil and a receiver coil. In this approach, both the transmitter coil and the receiver coil may be inductively coupled to a respective transformer winding and may transmit power based on inductive coupling.
In an alternative approach, a resonator based system for contactless exchange of power may be used. One such resonator based system may include a three coil system. The three coil system may include a transmitter coil, a receiver coil and a resonator for enhancing a resonance coupling between the transmitter coil and the receiver coil. In another approach multiple resonators may also be used for contactless exchange of power.
Although all the aforementioned approaches exchange power using a contactless medium, none of the approaches provide a flexibility of using the transmitter coil and/or the receiver coil with different specifications. In certain applications such as EV charging, the transmitter coil or the charging station may have one set of specifications which may not be compatible with the receiver coil in a vehicle. Such incompatibility issues between the transmitter coil and the receiver coil may create undesirable restrictions for a consumer which need to be addressed using an improved system.